Shoaib Akhter and M. Asif are back

Well, the story regarding the use of banned substances on part of Muhammad Asif and Shoaib Akhter and their subsequent punishment in the shape of a ban from taking part in international cricket for a period of one and two years respectively took a new twist as their bans have been overturned by the tribunal set up by the PCB to review the appeals of the fast bowlers against their ouster from the mainstream cricket. The tribunal arrived at the verdict with a ratio of 2 : 1 with Justice Fakhruddin G Ibrahim and Hasib Ahsan both of the opinion that the players had not taken the drugs knowingly and that they should be given benifet of the doubt keeping in view the context of their intake of the substances while they were recovering from injuries taking a wide range of healers and revitalizers.
The decision however is bound to have some serious repurcussions as World Anti Doping Agency was keenly observing the situation and ICC being a signatory of WADA cannot look the other way in case WADA differs with the decision took by the Pakistani tribunal. While one can sympathize with the innocence of Shoaib and Asif one cannot deny the role of PCB for its nonesensal acts in bringing up the matter to world’s attention without doing any homework of creating awareness among the players regarding the ill effects drugs might have on the lives and careers of the players.
It is a welcome news for so many of the Pakistani cricket fans as they will be able to see their fast bowling heroes in action in the near future and the arrival of these two surely will increase the chances of Pakistan in the upcoming world cup.